The Art Nouveau wedding: LEGO meets geek meets Southern hospitality

The Offbeat Bride: Anna Kate, Costumer

Her offbeat partner: Michael, Actor

Date and location of wedding: The Banquet Hall of Alvaton, Alvaton, GA — March 11, 2016

Our offbeat wedding at a glance:

Our wedding theme was Art Nouveau, with hints of LEGO, theatre, film, and general nerdery. Art Nouveau is my favorite design period, so when we were trying to pick overall wedding themes, it immediately jumped out at us. I love the organic shapes and elegance it entails, and it really worked with our love of Lord of the Rings.

My husband is a huge LEGO fan — or an AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) for those down with the lingo — so we knew we had to work it in somewhere. We're also in the theatre and film world (I'm a costumer, and he's an actor) so we tried to squeeze some references in there, too. Our families are Southern, so we had to invite everyone. My husband and I went to different schools for theatre, and your classmates basically become your family. So, throw all that together, and you have a big ol' wedding.

We did a very DIY wedding, and were insanely lucky with our friends and family who offered their help to make the day happen. I did all my own wedding dress alterations, including adding custom sleeves, and made my own veil. I designed and sewed our flower girl's dress from scratch. A family friend was our florist, my mother-in-law made both of our cakes, a friend was our wedding planner, and family and friends all came together to help with our catering. We bought/borrowed antique china and silver to use at the reception. It was a huge labor of love.

Tell us about the ceremony:

We had a Christian ceremony in a 100-year-old converted schoolhouse with music from How to Train your Dragon and Harry Potter, played by a Celtic band. A lot of stuff went wrong during the ceremony, but it made it all even better. My pastor didn't have the right suit because his dry cleaner mixed them up, so he had to wear what he drove to the venue in, but he worked it into the homily. Then, my husband jumped the gun on the vows and said “I DO!” before the pastor even asked if he would.

But the best one is MY DAD FORGOT TO WALK ME DOWN THE AISLE. Our planner took me and the wedding party out to the lobby to start the processional, and as the bridesmaids begin to walk down the aisle, I look around, and realize my dad is absolutely nowhere to be found. So I start freaking out, and our planner looks into the room where the ceremony is, and THERE IS MY FATHER SITTING IN THE FRONT ROW. So as my sister is walking down the aisle (she was last, because she was the maid of honor) she whisper-yells “DAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING” and he LEAPS up, mouths “I don't know!” and basically runs back up the center aisle, passing my sister and she's making “get back there” motions with her bouquet. Keep in mind this is a crowd of 300 people who are sitting here watching this, and positively cackling with laughter. It was hysterical.

Tell us about your reception:

The reception was immediately after the ceremony, in the same building. So after the ceremony was over, everyone went outside onto the huge porch and had snacks and glass bottle Cokes, while the room was flipped (by a group of my mom's high school students). We all ate dinner (with nerdy-themed food), and then cut our cakes. My mother-in-law made the top tier gluten-free so I could eat it.

Instead of a regular photo booth, we had a paper moon portrait booth! My friend who is a theatre carpenter and I built a giant moon out of plywood, and I sewed together the backdrop and painted the moon. My dad (a photographer) helped with the camera setup. I edited the photos after the wedding to make them look like authentic paper moon portraits.

Vendors

• Photographer: Emma Elaine Photography
• Dress: Altered Casablanca 1975
• Videography: Chandler Pro Video
• Venue: Banquet Hall of Alvaton
• Band: Three Quarter Ale

Gallery

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